Over 90,000 detained in China crackdown on illegal food production

Chinese police have investigated over 132,000 cases and detained more than 90,000 suspects since November in a nationwide crackdown on a set of highly attended offenses, especially food and drug safety cases, Xinhua reports.

The high-profile campaign, launched on Aug. 22 by the Ministry of Public Security, aims to eliminate illegal food producers and vendors, factories producing counterfeit goods and markets built for the disposal of stolen goods, pornography, gambling and drug trafficking.

A statement issued by the ministry particularly noted the results of operations against manufacturing and sale of clenbuterol, an illegal fat-burning drug that is sometimes illegally used as an additive in pig feed, and "gutter oil," or reprocessed cooking oil that is illegally produced using waste oil from restaurants.

The ministry did not specify the ending date of the campaign in its statement, but vowed to establish "permanent mechanisms" to address those issues.